Earthy Birds: Vegan MoFo: Cruelty Free Shoes

Leather is animal's skin. Animals are killed to obtain their skin. New born animals are killed to obtain soft skin to make very delicate or soft leather items. Not gonna get as graphic as I would like because I don't really have the stomach for it, but leather is widely used in making clothes, furniture, seats, shoes, luggage, briefcase, purse, pouch, belt... etc. It is good idea to buy non-leather items, like, made of cotton, resin or other synthetic materials.

Buying leather directly contributes to factory farms and slaughterhouses because skin is the most economically important byproduct of the meat industry. Leather is also no friend of the environment, as it shares responsibility for all the environmental destruction caused by the meat industry as well as the pollution caused by the toxins used in tanning.

Tanning is a general term used for the process of converting animal skins to finished leather. Animal hides and skins absorb tannins to keep them from decaying and to keep them pliable. Technically, the term "tanning" refers to the process by which collagen fibers in a hide react with a chemical agent (tannin, alum or other chemicals), but the term leather tanning also commonly refers to the entire leather making process.

First animal skins or hides are "cured" by wet-salting or brine-curing. Then the hides are soaked in water for several hours or days after which the remaining flesh is removed. At that point, the hair is removed by soaking the hide in a mixture of lime and water and then removing the hair from the hide. After the hide is cleaned, the hides are processed in an acid vat and treated with enzymes to smooth the grain and make the leather soft.
With every pair of leather shoes that you buy, you sentence an animal to a lifetime of suffering. Instead, you can choose from hundreds of styles of non leather shoes, clothing, belts, bags, and wallets.

Leather Tanning uses numerous toxic agents for soaking the hides. Consequently, disposal of waste water was a pollution hazard, particularly prior to modern environmental regulations. In addition, since the leathers are made from animal hides, the disposal of waste hairs and animal flesh were also a source of pollution. Emissions of VOC Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary, room-temperature conditions. Their high vapor pressure results from a low boiling point, which causes large numbers of molecules to evaporate from the liquid or solid form of the compound and enter the surrounding air. An example is formaldehyde, with a boiling point of –19 °C (–2 °F), slowly exiting paint and getting into the air.may occur during finishing and during other processes, such as fat liquoring and drying. Ammonia emissions may also occur during drying. Sulfide emissions may occur during liming/ unhairing and subsequent processes. Particulate emissions may occur during shaving, drying, and buffing, unless controlled by dust collectors or scrubbers. Chromium emissions may also occur from chromite reduction, handling of basic Chromium Sulfate Powder , and from the buffing process. The buffing operation also releases particulates, which may contain chromium.

Besides the fact that you are killing an animal, there is also much damage being done to the earth!
For me personally I have not bought leather in years now because I find just as cute of stuff vegan...

Love these links for more information !!

http://www.youcouldsavetheworld.com/fur_leather_wool.html

http://www.veganchic.com/htmls/material.aspx